Akureyri - Capital of the North.

Sitting at the head of the longest fjord in Iceland was today’s destination, Akureyri. Known as the Capital of the North,the town has the second largest population outside of Reykjavik. 

The streams tumbling down the mountains gave off steam as they reached the fjord, perhaps indicating some geothermal activity at their source.

With the ship being berthed today it was easy to get on and off , so we made our way into town at around 9 o’clock. After a slight delay, as I had forgotten my wallet and had to return to our cabin, we were mixing with the locals.

Our first port of call was the Botanical Gardens, one of the most northerly in the World. Housing in excess of 6000  foreign specimens the garden also has an extensive stock of native Icelandic plants. I know that Sylvia has posted a number of photos on Facebook earlier today but this should give you a taster.

It was an ideal time to visit the garden as many of the plants were in full bloom and the smells as you approached each bed were fantastic. The gardens were very well set out with each different variety labelled together with larger notices detailing facts about the various families of plants. A small cafe sat in the centre of the gardens and it seemed a same not to avail ourselves of some local snacks.

The next stop was the Akureyri church which is one of the most recognisable buildings in the town, standing as it does at the top of over 100 steps. Designed by the same man that designed the large Lutheran church in Reykjavik the church has as its altarpiece a stained glass window from the original Coventry cathedral (The centre one in the picture below).

The story goes that all the stain glass was removed from Coventry prior to the Second World War and stored in the countryside of Warwickshire. When the cathedral was destroyed several of the window pieces got lost and somehow landed up in a London antique shop before being purchased by an Icelander. He donated the glass to the newly constructed Akureyri church in 1940.

In addition to its title as Capital of the North, Akureyri is also known as the town of museums, having no less than twelve different ones. After yesterday’s experience we apprehensively decided to visit a couple, the first of which was the Nonni memorial museum. Nonni was a local man and Jesuit priest who went on to write children’s stories. These works have been translated into more than 40 languages, many of which are on show at the museum. We were the only visitors ,beating the organised tours by several hours and therefore had the undivided attention of the curator who gave us a guided tour. A fascinating little museum.

The second museum was the municipal museum which housed a collection of maps, an exhibition of the history of the town and a special exhibition celebrating Iceland’s only woman president Vigdis Finnbogadottir. Again a smashing little museum.

On the way back to town we watched a young man cutting the grass with a robotic mower, controlling the machine with a joystick around his waist. He told me that all those days he spend playing computer games hadn’t been wasted. 

This picture was taken at dinner a couple of nights ago.

The next two days are sea days as we make our way over the North Atlantic towards the Shetland Islands, therefore there will be no blog post until after our visit to Lerwick (unless anything unusual happens).